Whether you love jury duty or hate it, starting in January, judges must advise that you decisively cannot text or tweet about it. California Governor Jerry Brown signed a law last week requiring judges to admonish jurors that they are prohibited from conducting research, disseminating information, and conversing via electronic and wireless communications. 2011 Cal. Legis. Serv. Ch. 181 (A.B. 141) (WEST). The risks for bias or confusion of the issues are simply too high.
Janssen associate attorney Megan Yarnall was recently admitted to the Oregon State Bar after passing the Oregon bar exam last winter. The Janssen Law Firm represents clients in personal injury, civil and criminal defense, estate planning, and other matters throughout Northern California, including Humboldt, Del Norte, Trinity, Mendocino, and Siskiyou Counties. Occasionally, our clients encounter matters requiring representation beyond California’s northern border into Oregon. We can now help our clients in these matters with greater ease and efficiency, without seeking outside counsel admitted to practice in the state of Oregon. Should you or your business require such assistance, the attorneys at the Janssen Law Firm stand ready to assist.
In one of the first class actions in which I was ever involved we sued an insurance carrier that had a policy which cheated its insureds out of fairly small amounts. During discovery we turned up a memo that discussed bonuses to the employees with the slogan “A penny a patient.” The idea was that, since the insurance carrier had over 20 million patients, if it could find a way to save (cheat) the patient out of one penny, that saved the company $200,000.
Of course who’s going to fight with a major insurance carrier over one penny? No one.
Journalist Matt Drange of the Eureka Times-Standard covered the Lavender v. Skilled Healthcare jury trial, writing in depth in a three part series the stories underlying the class action law suit against Skilled Healthcare. Drange noted that it was the longest civil trial in Humboldt County history, and the $677 million verdict was the largest trial result in the United States in 2010.
Settlement in Skilled Healthcare suit has been approved by court and praised by nursing home reform advocates.
On December 1, 2010, the Times Standard interviewed The Janssen Law Firm’s Lead Trial Lawyer Timothy Needham about the Humboldt County Superior Court’s Final Approval of the Settlement in the Skilled Healthcare Lawsuit. The $677 million dollar jury verdict was the largest award ever given by a Humboldt County Jury.
Text messages are becoming an increasingly common form of communication, even in remote areas like Humboldt County, and this can have a profound effect on both civil and criminal lawsuits. “Smart” phones and overall increases in phones’ data capacity are creating both headaches and treasure troves for litigation attorneys. As a cell phone user, you should know that if you are thinking of filing a lawsuit, or may have to defend against one, your text messages could be available to the opposing party and/or the court. This may even include messages you have deleted from the phone.
Recently, in preparing to try a seven-month jury trial in Humboldt County, I tried to find an article with advice on how to prepare for a marathon trial. Surprisingly, there was very little on the subject. Therefore, I turned to my usual sources (attorneys who’ve been there) and obtained the following insights, all of which proved true:
On August 27, 2010, the Honorable Judge W. Bruce Watson denied Skilled Healthcare’s Motion for Mistrial Based on Alleged Juror Misconduct. After reviewing the declarations submitted by the defendants and the counter declarations submitted by plaintiffs the Court ruled that there was no juror misconduct and that “Defendants did not meet their burden of establishing misconduct, although the three affidavits presented constitute a prime facie showing of misconduct, they are rebutted in all important aspects by the counter declarations.” Contrary to claims by defendants, the counter declarations revealed that the juror in question did not make any false statements, did not fail to disclose any information, and did not know one of the plaintiffs or have prior knowledge of an event regarding one of the defendants.
The Court’s Order preserves the largest jury verdict in the United States this year and the largest recorded jury verdict in Humboldt County.
Read the court’s entire ruling here.
While the lawyers in the Janssen Law firm aggressively prepare their cases for jury trial, there are other dispute resolution methods that may be suitable for a particular case. In fact, most civil cases for money damages settle prior to trial, in recognition of the economic fact that trials are expensive and uncertain for both sides of a dispute.
On July 6th, 2010 a Humboldt County jury returned a verdict in excess of $670 million dollars against Skilled Healthcare Group, Inc., Skilled Healthcare LLC and 22 subsidiaries located throughout California for violating the state minimum staffing requirements. The plaintiff class was represented by members W. Timothy Needham, Michael Crowley, Amelia Burroughs and Patrick Griego of the Janssen Law Firm from Eureka, by Michael Thamer from Callahan, and Chris Healey of the Luce Forward firm from San Diego. This is the highest verdict ever achieved against a nursing home chain and one of the highest in the United States this decade. In its verdict the jury found that defendants understaffing was done with malice. The jury will return on July 15th to decide the amount of punitive damages the defendants should pay as a result of their misconduct. The specific Skilled Healthcare facilities sued were Alexandria Care Center, LLC, Alta Care Center, LLC, Anaheim Terrace Care Center, LLC, Bay Crest Care Center, LLC, Brier Oak on Sunset, LLC, Carehouse Healthcare Center, LLC, Devonshire Care Center, LLC, Elmcrest Care Center, LLC, Eureka Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, LLC, Granada Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, LLC, Hancock Park Rehabilitation Center, LLC, Montebello Care Center, LLC, Royalwood Care Center, LLC, Pacific Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, LLC, Seaview Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, LLC, Sharon Care Center, LLC, St. Luke Healthcare and Rehabilitation Center, LLC, Sycamore Park Care Center, LLC, The Earlwood, LLC, Valley Healthcare Center, LLC, Villa Maria Healthcare Center, LLC, Willow Creek Healthcare Center, LLC.